troublemakers sit in the back

Things I learned at the conference:

1. it is possible to get tired of angry birds.

2. iPhone batteries die a lot faster than you think.

3. troublemakers sit in the back

That last one is absolutely true. Though there was abundant seating in the room, we sat five across on the back row with two of Caleb’s buddies (together I call them the “Three Musketeers”, which does not go over well), one who also brought his wife and one who didn’t. The guys poked fun of each other during the entire PTSD and suicide awareness briefings, and you can just imagine the snickering coming from our row when the instructor spontaneously burst into an a cappella song, all “Take care of each other, love one another!”

Then there were the texts I received from the guy sitting next to me. And the ones he got from the guy next to him. And the self portraits we sent each other. It was like a beehive back there with all the buzzing phones.

I’ll stop while my maturity level is still partially intact.

Seriously though, PTSD and suicide are very real and common in the Army, a fact we are all painfully aware of else we wouldn’t feel the need to cut the tension by acting like a group of 12 year olds.

I think we were all glad to be done with that conference.

On the upside, it was great to be together as a family of four. The boys enjoyed every minute of our “adventure”. Elevators are the most exciting thing ever! And also, the view from our room was lovely.